News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, April 25, 2025
Faced with the prospect of a trade agreement with four South American countries that has taken more than twenty years to negotiate being voted down amidst wide-spread public opinion fear it might set ablaze the Amazon forest, the European Commission has taken the initiative. And it wants to move fast …
Good afternoon, an overview of interesting trade policy developments in Brussels this week. 35% of EU exports to be covered by trade agreements in 2024 and other strategic objectives The European Commission’s trade directorate released its 2020 ‘Strategic Plan’ this week. The document spells out how the body will approach …
A vote on a low-key European Parliament report this week turned into a major battle over the direction of trade policy in a post COVID-19 world. It worked as a catalyst, revealing growing rifts reaching right into the political centre-ground on European trade politics in a turbulent time. Green goals …
If you think that, because Valdis Dombrovski’s nomination to become the next trade commissioner of the EU was relatively smooth sailing in the European Parliament, MEPs will make life easy for him, you are mistaken. A group of MEPs had amendments successfully adopted in a plenary vote on Tuesday (6 …
Protecting the steel industry, what to do with the EU Mercosur trade pact and finding common ground in the WTO director-general selection process were among the main topics discussed by trade ministers in Berlin today at an informal meeting hosted by the German presidency of the Council.
On Wednesday the European Parliament held a snap debate on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and whether it was compatible with the Green Deal announced by Commission von der Leyen. The Mercosur text’s examination and ratification process have not yet started. Said text is not yet even entirely consolidated. Yet the …
The European Commission has published a lot of material about the free trade agreement concluded with Mercosur last summer. But the most interesting parts of the agreement – the market access offers in goods and services – were still missing. Whether it’s the effect of last Sunday’s elections in Argentina …
Phil Hogan might come to regret having been the one to have made the the EU-Mercosur trade agreement possible earlier this summer by brokering difficult last-minute compromises. The outgoing agriculture commissioner will be among the first nominees for the new European Commission to be heard by MEPs as he bids …
Dear readers, this is the last Week in Brussels column before our summer recess. The next Week in Brussels column will appear on 30 August 2019. We will publish very sparingly over the next two weeks due to the general recess period in relevant European and international trade institutions. Here …
The EU is out there to secure a dense and reliable set of international rules for trade for itself in a time of severe crisis in the multilateral trading system and transatlantic relations. Among others, it is doing so by investing into its bilateral trade agreement strategy and adding new …
